How to Potty Train Your Dog

You bet that having a puppy or a dog in your household would be quite a blast for the entire family. Dogs are such lovable and faithful pets that it’s hard not to adore them even if you try your best to ignore their presence. Imagine the joys of having those lovely animals licking your toes to wake you up in the morning, or a sturdy sport dog fetching the papers while you take a sip of your coffee. Truly, having a dog as part of the family is a pleasure to savor! Well, not quite.

There Some Nuances that go Along with Owning a Dog

Ruined furniture, shredded carpets, nibbled slippers, and the likes are just some of the things you have to contend with. But perhaps the most disgusting of these are the fecal wastes that would be littered all over your house, care of a dog that, really, doesn’t know how to use the toilet.

But the pleasures of having a dog are too magnanimously blissful to sacrifice for a little order in the household. There are, of course, some solutions that would make your dog more house-friendly. One of these is potty training.

Potty training your dog, I must warn you, can be a frustrating experience. If you’re the type who doesn’t want his hands to get dirty, then you better learn to change this soon. You will get your hands dirty, and you will have to clean up your dog’s wastes, at least in the first few weeks of potty training.

So, How to Potty Train a Dog?

There are many ways by which you could potty train your dog. Let us take a look at some of them.

Potty Training – Learning Before Knowing

Before your dog can learn, you must first teach him the right way of doing things. The common mistake that dog owners make is that they expect the dog to learn by himself. This is a little too much to ask from our canine buddies. They need to be taught. They need us to give them proper guidance.

So, the first step in potty training your dog is to muster the commitment to actually teach him. This would require some time and patience from you. Those little creatures can actually be adamant and stubborn most of the time.

How To Potty Train A Puppy – Marking The Spot

The first thing you should teach your dog is the proper place where he could discharge his wastes. Initially, your dog would just discharge anywhere he fancies. Allow him to do this. Yes, it could be quite frustrating to clean up each and every time he would leave his poo poo on the floor, but remember what we said about patience?

Eventually, your dog would settle on a favorite spot to answer nature’s call. This is your cue to enter the picture. The goal is to teach the dog how to change his preferred spot. There are many ways by which this could be done.

• Place a newspaper on the spot where he usually takes a dump. Allow your dog to discharge on the newspaper. Everyday, gradually move the newspaper to where you want your dog to take a dump. Your dog would adapt correspondingly, and before you know it, you’d have a toilet-mannered dog!
• When your dog is about to take a dump, carry him to the spot where he should be discharging. This would tell him where the proper disposal point is.
• You could make use of commercial paraphernalia to potty train your dog. Among these are sandboxes for cats, and scented liquid that induces your dog to take dump and you could simply spray this chemical in the spot of your choice.

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Rewarding Or Punishing Your Dog When Potty Training

Informing your dog that he did a good or a bad deed is important in potty-training your dog. But not all breeds are alike, so you should deal with them differently. Generally, dogs of the sports class are more trainable through operant or negative conditioning, that is, punishing them if they do something wrong. Dogs of the toy class are more arrogant, so classical or positive conditioning would work better for them, that is, rewarding them for every good deed that they do.

Puppy Potty Training Lessons You Should Know

Potty training your puppy can be a difficult task sometimes. Especially if you are a brand new puppy owner. It’s always easier when you have some puppy potty training lessons to follow. It basically has to become part of your routine. Repetition and patience are what you need most to achieve your goal.

Preparing for Potty Training a Puppy

Spend a little time preparing for this so that you can start right away when you bring your cute little puppy home. Don’t forget that a newly born puppy around 8 weeks old will need to potty more frequently than an older dog. I really suggest that if you cannot be with your puppy during some hours, you should get a crate so you can give it it’s own little space to sleep and stay.

The reason for a crate is that dogs will not potty in their living space. Therefore if you set kind of a boundary for their space then they will hold their potty until you get home. Another important factor is that it needs to be only large enough for him/her to turn around and lie down. If there is too much space they will make room for their “potty spot” and the whole idea will be ruined.

If your breed of dog is gonna get big then I suggest starting with a big crate even as a puppy and then modifying the space with a cardboard box or something to eliminate the free space.

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Watch Your Puppy Behavior

One of the best potty training lessons to learn is to watch your puppy often to find out it’s behavior when she/he does have to potty. Maybe it will start sniffing around the floor or circling in an area. You just need to be aware and ready to take action when this happens.

You must use a positive reinforcement and/or clicker training. Just be sure when you are potty training your puppy and they associate the command with the required action, offer the reward and praise. You want to make sure you have treats and/or your clicker on hand before opening that crate door.

Importance of Using Same Spot

The area you want your puppy to use for potty should be confined to one particular place in the yard. By using the same location each time you have a potty training session, he will quickly make the connection between that location and what needs to be done there. You can also use a verbal command or phrase each time your dog goes outside.

By simply saying “go potty” every time you are working on puppy potty training, your puppy will associate those words with the action expected of him. Soon enough you’ll be able to open the door to your yard, say the word and watch your puppy follow the command.

Potty Commands

When your puppy first wakes up is the perfect time practice your potty training lessons. It is an essential time since they have been crated overnight so not only do they have the need to potty, but also get a bit of exercise and stretching done. Another occasion for you to practice potty training your puppy is to take them out right before bedtime for their last potty and exercise occasion of the evening.

Make sure that you tell them to “go potty” and continuously praise your puppy each time they correctly achieve a command. The praise they receive will be a trigger for them to willingly repeat the action.

Don’t scold your puppy if they have made a mess in the house without you catching him in the act. If you do see your puppy squatting to relieve himself however, it is perfectly fine to say “No” or some other predetermined word, scoop him up and bring him directly to the outdoor potty area. Tell him/her to “go potty” and they will soon understand that it is not acceptable to do their ‘business’ anywhere but the assigned location.

Follow a Strict Schedule for Feeding

You will learn to anticipate when your puppy needs to go outside. Usually it will take somewhere between 30-45 minutes after eating for your puppy or dog to need to go outside. By keeping track of times between eating/drinking and eliminating you will soon have a good idea how long to wait until it’s time to go outside.

Puppy potty training requires planning and a bit of patience and consistency. When your puppy knows what is expected of them and you’re able to be consistent with your requests and your rewards they will quickly catch on. Potty training doesn’t need to take months, follow these basic dog potty training tips and your puppy can be trained in no time.

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How Long Does Puppy Potty Training Take?

The time intervals will vary tremendously depending on the puppy’s age. For example, when they are aged up to say fourteen weeks, you may be looking at perhaps eight to ten breaks per day. This will likely drop down to maybe half of that by the time the puppy is aged about thirty weeks.

When they are young, they are not physically developed enough to hold themselves in for too long. For this reason they should be taken outdoors perhaps every two hours or so. You need to closely observe the period after eating or drinking because they are usually common “toilet times”. Really though, they can only hold themselves for an hour or so for every month of age. Basically they will not really last through the night.

It sounds unusual but many puppy owners keep a written record of when the puppy “goes”. This gives them a greater idea of the dog’s natural bodily rhythms. The main items to note are eating, sleeping and going to the toilet. Pet owners find it easier to see the relationship between the events, which certainly makes sense. It may well in addition, highlight some medical problems when the puppy starts to break with these standard times.

Your next period is when your puppy senses the urge to go and realises if they come to tell you (or perhaps go straight to the potty area) they get praise. Maybe they will bark, maybe they will whine or perhaps scratch at the door. In time they’ll probably head straight for their potty. You’re suddenly making big progress. Keep the praise going, even if there are some accidents.

If you happen to shout at or scold the pup they will think that you’re cross about them going to the toilet, instead of going in the wrong place. A simple detail but a world of difference. In closing, there are three stages. One, establish the zone. Two, get the puppy to associate visiting the zone with going to the toilet. Three, get them to associate wanting to go to the toilet with going to the area to carry it out. Well there are some puppy potty training tips for you to think about.

Potty Training a Puppy Quickly

Potty training a puppy not only requires dedication, but it requires lots of time as well. It is not a quick job for sure, but there are things to know if you want to train your puppy faster and easier.

It will be hard in the beginning, but later you will notice that when he wants to potty, he behaves in a specific way. He might keep on sniffing, turning around, walking weird and just looking at you in a little different way that usual. You need to notice this, and when you do, get him on a potty immediately.

Now, if you want to know how to potty train a puppy quicker, it is best to dedicate one full week for this. Of course, for some people this might be impossible, but if you just can, take that week off and get on your puppy potty training – you won`t regret this! Because when you can spend all your time with your puppy, and can play with him and watch him, you will KNOW when he wants to go – you will see that!

And he will be more likely to show you the cues once he sees that you understand them! So if you can spend that one week with him – do that! For others it takes months, but if you concentrate on potty training a puppy, you can see results much faster than that! And you will both enjoy the life with no little worries!